Western literature has been more influenced by the Bible than any other book.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god.

It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not value real glory will not value its counterfeit.

Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.

People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Ye diners out from whom we guard our spoons.

Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.

Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.

On every page, confidence fights with self-doubt. Every sentence is an act of faith. Why would anybody want to do it?

A lot of people are alive because I shed too much hair to get away with murder.

When you deal with change, you have a couple choices: You can lead it and make the rules, or you can be a fast follower, or you can be a slow follower.

But no one should have the right to manipulate my films in the first place.

No matter how much you keep encouraging someone who is blindfolded to stare through the cloth, he still won’t see a thing.".

I have five pitches. Fast ball, change, curve, slider, screwball. I don't know any hitters. Catcher, he tells me what to do. I can get any pitch I want over the plate.

If there is a defining characteristic of a man as opposed to a boy, maybe it's patience.

Cats are the wildest of the tame and the tamest of the wild

Fill the day with enthusiasm. Give the day all you've got and it will give you all it's got, which will be plenty.

Biography is the most universally pleasant and profitable of all reading.